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Epic Battle Fantasy 3
Released in August 2010, Epic Battle Fantasy 3 (titled as Epic Battle Fantasy III in-game) is the third game in the , the sequel to . Along with Matt and Natalie, the game features a returning and now playable character (previously, a villain), Lance, a gunner and an expert in al techniques. Now jumping deeper into the role-playing genre, many elements which were not seen before have been integrated; of most significance is map navigation and the introduction of non-player characters. Synopsis The game's intro is as follows: A few years ago, a great battle against an evil entity rocked the earth. The destruction left the population enfeebled and struggling to survive. A mighty warrior, Lance the gunner, took this opportunity to conquer the lands. However, he was promptly defeated by Matt the swordsman and Natalie the magician. Following this battle, the three young heroes teamed up, hoping that no new evil force could defeat their combined power, and once more bring chaos into the world. The trio spent their days hunting treasure and challenging new opponents. Eventually, legends and rumours led them to an ancient tomb, the resting place of a powerful deity. To their surprise, it seemed that this being was still alive, merely imprisoned and induced into a deep sleep. Curiously the trio prodded the chained demon. The demon quickly awoke with a violent shockwave. The trio were stunned and unable to retaliate as powerful magic tugged at their souls. The demon began to drain their life energy, but as the heroes were so powerful, their combined energy was too much for him to absorb, and they survived the ordeal. However, the power of this demon was now so dense it began to distort the space and time around him, forming a growing void of nothingness. When the trio awoke, they found themselves in a foreign land. With most of their powers drained, and their equipment scattered throughout the continent, they were reduced to the status of ordinary adventurers. They would not give up until they had remedied this situation. Clearly it was not just their problem, but the entire world's. An ancient and mysterious deity, now possessing their combined powers, was free to lay waste to the lands. Oh by the way use WASD or the Arrow Keys to move around, and Space to interact with stuff. Sound and Quality settings are in the right-click menu. M and F also open some menus. After the defeat of Lance at the hands of Matt and Natalie during the events of EBF2, the world managed to rebuild civilization and proceeded to live in relative peace. The three heroes, meanwhile, banded together, hoping that no evil would be able to overcome their combined strength. A few years later, the heroes stumble upon the resting place of the infamous Akron, an ancient demon god so powerful he was sealed away to prevent the destruction of the world. Unwisely, the heroes prodded him (Matt poking him just once with his sword) to test his vitality. Akron awoke with a violent shockwave, draining the heroes' power. The heroes were only saved from death by the fact that their combined power was too great for any one entity to completely absorb. They awake in a distant land, determined to recover their lost strength and defeat Akron for good. As the heroes discover more about their current location, they also discern the resting place of Akron. Driven by vengeance, the heroes begin their trek north, regaining some of their powers as they go. Their first obstacle is a thick forest, home to a swarm of poisonous bees, enchanted trees, and worst of all, an enormous robotic pumpkin. Their next destination is a lake, full of nudists and pirates, crawling with Crabs and Jellies, and plagued by a perverted giant squid. A frozen valley provides a sudden change of pace, and the heroes find themselves facing bizarre magic creatures, powerful minibosses and the world's last wooly mammoth. Again providing a drastic environment change, the heroes ride the mammoth into a desert, dotted with the ruins of a fallen civilization and defended by their creations. Finally, the party scales an active volcano, slaying a three-headed dragon at its summit, and entering The Rift that Akron had created with his recovered powers. After a climactic final battle for the fate of the universe, Akron is killed once and for all, and the heroes go on vacation at the beach. Gameplay New gameplay features include the ability to level up all three characters, gaining experience and a new system of Ability Points, to upgrade a vast collection of skills and spells. Equipment can be collected and equipped, as well as forged with certain combinations of items to upgrade their power and effectiveness. Additionally, side quests can be accumulated by talking to NPCs, and when completed, will reward certain equipment, items, medals, or additional skills. There are also minigames to play that provide a source of gold and medals. Concept and design In addition to all the artwork and designs from the previous two games, Matt Roszak had released fresh conceptual designs for the new game on DeviantArt as early as October 2009. He uploaded an interactive flash on 29 October which featured the three main characters, showing random newly-developed armour and weapons equipped, as well as the improved character animations. Interactive flashes featuring many new foes also followed, along with item designs and a test of the overworld navigation. On 28 January 2010, he revealed the opening animation to the game. Further conceptual art for icons, backgrounds, world maps and NPCs, previews of minigames, cutscenes, and demos of the GUI, upgrades and battle systems, were uploaded to show his progress, until several teaser screens displaying in-game fight scenes were eventually posted, the last one on 7 August, before the official release. Release A Facebook Page was created on 5 July 2010, to launch the release of the upcoming sequel to EBF2, and spread news of the game's developmental progress. On 12 August the first beta version was officially released to the public on DeviantArt, followed by the second on 22 August. However the final version was eventually moved to Kongregate and released on 1 September, due to DeviantArt inadvertently deleting saved game data. A Newgrounds version was subsequently released on 12 September, as well as Armor Games on 14 September. Several related videos were also uploaded to YouTube; gameplay of mini-games, and a trailer of in-game clips. The official soundtrack went up for sale at $10 a disc. During development for Epic Battle Fantasy 5 Matt decided to re-release the game for steam for free on Sept, 9th 2016 as an ad for his other steam games. Response As a result, Epic Battle Fantasy 3 received much appraisal. In less than a month, the game hit over two million plays on Kongregate, and by mid-October over one million on Armor Games, also winning the Newgrounds (citation needed) Award, and earning tons of positive reviews there. Similar reviews appeared on several other gaming sites, such as NonsenseGamer.com, and the game itself popped up on various unofficial sites. User-made videos flooded onto YouTube, demonstrating map walkthroughs and fighting strategies. Numerous fan artworks were uploaded to DeviantArt, and a tropes article on the game was added to TVTropes.org. A wiki project, the Epic Battle Fantasy Wiki had been initiated on 28 November 2009, however it wasn't until the release of Epic Battle Fantasy 3 that it began to kick off. 2016 Update On October 1, 2016, Epic Battle Fantasy 3 was releasedhttp://kupogames.com/2016/09/01/epic-battle-fantasy-3-is-live-on-steam/ on Steam with a number of updates, which were oriented mainly towards usability improvements. A month later, the Kongregate version has been updated as well, to be mostly the same as the Steam version. Official change lists: Steam version / Kongregate version. A simple way to check whether you're playing the updated version is the new blue Options button in the top-left corner, which hides only in cutscenes and Main Menu subsections. Additional changes not mentioned in the lists above, but that were noticed by the community: (based off the Kongregate version) * Pyrohydra — All heads' health and their Fire resistance were slightly reduced. Abyss' Poison element resistance was also reduced, making its Poison-based health regeneration many times weaker. * Red Slime and Giant Red Slime — Fire- and Poison-elemental magical attacks are no longer an exception to the "immune to magic" rule. * Viking Monolith — reduced laser's Freeze chance for Easy, Normal and Hard difficulties. * Cosmic Monolith — reduced Doomsday's power by about 28% and increased its element degree from 90% to 100%. (The variant cast by Dark Rune is still at 90%.) * The status effect now deals about 30% less damage/heal to the foes. * Soul Eater's Defence and Magic Defence penalties increased from -40% to -50%. * Changed items required to upgrade Heaven's Gate: ** Old: 1 Steel Plate for level 2, 2 Light Feather for level 3, 2 Gold Plate and 4 Steel Plate for level 4 and 1 Diamond for level 5. ** New: 2 Steel Plate and 1 Light Feather for level 2, 1 Light Rune and 3 Light Feather for level 3, 1 Ruby and 1 Gold Plate for level 4 and 1 Diamond and 3 Gold Plate for level 5. * Moved Nurse Hat from a secret chest found on the screen right before the final boss, to a visible chest on the right side of the first boss screen. * The Meow Meow skill was renamed into "NCH's Meow Meow", to signalize Matt Roszak doesn't own the character. * The song used as the Power Metal skill's sound effect was changed from Through The Fire And Flames by DragonForce to Winter Night's Journey (Through The Storm) by LEAF XCEED. * Censored the names of several NPC cameos (see Allusions): Konata → Kon*ta, Yoko → Y*ko, Kamina → K*mina, Simon → S*mon. * Reduced the difficulty of certain minigames: ** #2: Narwhal Surf — reduced # of coins lost upon collision from 10 to 3. ** #4: Ruin Raider — reduced stun time from about 2.5s to 1.5s, increased invincibility time from about 3s to 4s. ** #5: Rock Runner — reduced # of coins lost upon collision from 10 to 3. * Reduced the difficulty of all minigame-related medals: * Changed certain base stats of the players: Matt's Accuracy changed from 4 to 4.2, Natalie's Defence from 4.3 to 4.2, Lance's Defence from 4.3 to 4.6, Lance's Magic Defence from 4.2 to 4.6 and Lance's Evade from 4 to 4.2. * Difficulty captions (when starting a new game) now give tips on which difficutly the player should choose. The HP penalty on Easy is no longer explicitly mentioned, even though there seems to be enough free space for it to fit in the same line. * Removed the yellow text glow from most parts of Main Menu subsections. * At the start of the game, Natalie now wears Red Ribbon and Red Dress by default, instead of Pink Flower and Whitemage Dress. (All are accessible from the start in both versions — you can freely re-equip back.) You can add an entry if another change is spotted, but please refrain from listing minor description edits that don't affect their meaning. Trivia * Epic Battle Fantasy 3 is the first game in the series to allow free roaming. * Also, it is the first game in the series to feature a new playable character - Lance. Allusions Epic Battle Fantasy 3 frequently references other works ranging from video games to animation to literature. A few examples include: * Cave Story: The NPC in charge of the last minigame, Curly, says "Did you know the witch woman Jenka had... oh, wrong person." This references a NPC in Cave Story with a similar line. * Dragon Ball Z: Lance implies that his scanner is actually Vegeta's scouter in his conversation with the NPC Bill in the forest. * Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Kamina, Yoko, and Simon make a cameo together in the ruins of the Kitty Kingdom. Matt also says "Pierce the heavens with your drill!" the first time someone uses the technique Kamina taught them, "Tera Drill". * Rurouni Kenshin: The NPC in charge of the first minigame, Sir Ken, is strikingly similar to the show's eponymous swordsman. * Dune: "Walk without rhythm to confuse the worm!" upon encountering the Sandworm. * The Matrix: "May God have mercy on man and machine for their sins." upon activating Natz's Limit Break, Genesis. * Pokemon: Matt says "Pidgey used Sand-Attack! Accuracy fell!" when he first gets hit by a crow's conjured dust cloud, and some Yellow Slime enemies have the red cheeks and lightning-bolt tail of Pikachu. * Lucky Star: The blue-haired girl in the town (that gives you a quest so she can play the newest MMORPGs) is Konata, the protagonist of Lucky Star. A more thorough list can be found at Epic Battle Fantasy's "Shout Out" page on TVtropes, a link to which can be found at the bottom of the page. External links Play the game * [http://store.steampowered.com/app/521200/ Epic Battle Fantasy 3 on Steam] * [http://www.kongregate.com/games/kupo707/epic-battle-fantasy-3 Epic Battle Fantasy 3 on Kongregate] * [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/548041 Epic Battle Fantasy 3 on Newgrounds] * [http://armorgames.com/play/6897/epic-battle-fantasy-3 Epic Battle Fantasy 3 on Armor Games] Other links * [http://www.kongregate.com/games/kupo707/epic-battle-fantasy-3-walkthrough Epic Battle Fantasy 3 Walkthrough (Kongregate)] * [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Epic-Battle-Fantasy-3/121491377896263 Epic Battle Fantasy 3 Facebook Page] * The opening animation on DeviantArt * Character equips interactive flash on DeviantArt * Battle demo on DeviantArt * YouTube Trailer * Game review on NonsenseGamer.com * Article on TVTropes.org * List of Shout Outs on TVTropes.org EBF3 Bestiary complete.png|Full Bestiary EBF3 Elementals Opening.png|A blurb describing a type of enemy featured in the opening animation Medal screen EBF3.png|Medals screen, none achieved Category:Games Category:Epic Battle Fantasy 3